Short hops and hard knocks with Red Sox beat writer Ian Browne.

Red Sox all over October

The Red Sox aren’t in the playoffs? Funny, every time I look in front of me, I see reminders of the Red Sox this October.

Grady Little is filling out lineup cards for the Dodgers. What a great guy. I’d love to see Grady take his team deep into October. I know it’s an unpopular thing to say on this blog, but let it go. ’03 was exorcised by ’04. Let it go. Grady is a very classy man and has handled that situation in LA in fantastic fashion.

Nomar Garciaparra is playing first base for the Dodgers. Nomar’s bat speed looks fantastic. It looks 1998-esque. I’m just not quite sure why he watched Billy Wagner’s first two pitches go right down the middle and then swung at strike three in the dirt. Oh well, I’d like to see Nomar come up with some big moments this October.

Derek Lowe is the ace of the Dodgers. Good to see D-Lowe back on the hill for a big game. I’m sure he’d like to take back those two gopherballs he surrendered to Delgado and Cliff Floyd. Otherwise, D. Lowe was D. Lowe. Only sad story in LA is Billy Ballgame, Bill Mueller. His knees are shot and might never play again. He is one of the most fundamentally sound players I’ve ever seen. I watched Bill Mueller on a nightly basis for three years and can’t recall seeing him make even one mental mistake. How many players can you say that about? Too bad he can’t enjoy this. We all know what kind of player he was in the clutch.

Pedro Martinez is the wounded ace of the Mets. Sure, Pedro is down and out, with that torn rotator cuff. But his smiling face was back in the Mets dugout today, and he was doing the cheerleading thing as only he can.

Then, the Padres, oh the Padres. Red Sox galore.

Josh Bard is the backup catcher of the Padres. Remember Josh Bard? The guy who couldn’t catch Tim Wakefield’s knuckleball. The guy who has been performing heroics all year long. Yes, as Theo Epstein readily admitted, this is a trade he’d love to have back.

Cla Meredith is the Padres setup man. Yes, the side-winder who was shellshocked after that quick entry to big league life at fenway in May of 05 is thriving in San Diego. So is Alan Embree, the power lefty who helped the Red Sox win the World Series in 2004 but seemed to be in the breakdown lane with both the Red Sox and Yanks last year. He’s gotten himself back to a pretty effective level this year.

Dave Roberts is the Padres leadoff man. You might remember him. He stole a pretty big base for the Red Sox at one time.

Mark Bellhorn and Todd Walker are backup infielders for the Padres. One guy gave the Sox a ton of clutch hits in the ’04 postseason, the other guy was unstoppable in ’03.

Jay Payton is a starting outfielder for the A’s. Yeah, remember, the Red Sox traded Roberts to get Payton. Only, Payton didn’t want to be in Boston. Now he’s in Oakland and playing well, and just one win away from playing in the ALCS. Of course, Payton and the A’s would probably face the Yankees in the ALCS.

Oh yeah, the Yankees.

Johnny Damon is the Yankees leadoff hitter, or so you might have heard. Though some of you are stubborn and still look at him as a traitor, Johnny did the right thing for his career and he’s the same great guy and player he always was. Mike Myers is the Yankees lefty specialist. Things didn’t go so well for Myers last night as he gave up a homer to the only batter he faced. But you know he’ll get some big outs over the next few weeks.

So the Red Sox aren’t in October? The Red Sox are all OVER October. Check it out when you get a chance.

p.s. — I’m at Yankee stadium and i just walked through the concourse and witnessed a Yankees fan holding the following sign: Manny is playing golf today. This is better!

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48 Comments

It still hurts to see Damon in pinstripes… as for Bard and Meridith, it just makes me wanna kick Theo in the ***. Good for Roberts – I love him.

I’d rather see Wakefield give up a HR to Aaron Boone in game 7 than to not see anything at all… watching the Yankees pulverize all that is in its path to glory is just sickening. They’re going to win though; I’m almost sure of it.

I can’t wait for everything to be over and analyze all the moves Theo will make in the offseason. Hearing all those MVP discussions about Jeter makes me wanna puke. ESPN’s kissing up to him, and it’s just so retarded….

Oh well, at least we have next year’s Cy Young winner in Papelbon! lol

Wow, that really stinks for Mueller. I was very sad to see him leave the Sox (although Lowell has done a terrific job of filling the hole). Mueller made tough plays look routine, and always gave 100% for Boston fans. If I recall correctly, he called Nomar as soon as he found out Grady Little was going to manage the Dodgers and encouraged him to see if he could find his way to LA. Even though I like Todd Walker a ton, I think I have to go with the Dodgers as my team to root for in the post season this year. Partly because of Little, Nomar, Mueller and Lowe, and partly because I remember rooting for them to beat the Yankees back in the ’70s with my mom.

I don’t particularly feel for the Cardinals or Mets; they seem irrelevant to me. The Dodgers are definitely my favorite, because of all the ex-Sox on its roster. The Padres have some too, but none from the 04 Championship team (right?)

Jamie, I’d rather see them kiss up to Jeter than fawn all over ARod. Especially an ex RedSox manager (JOE MORGAN), everytime he broadcasts a game and the Yankees are playing, he does all but kiss ARods butt, saying how misunderstood he is as an athlete, and how the New Yorkers and the media should be more understanding of him, that he’s had such a hard transition to third base. Excuse me, but if I’m forced to change jobs, and I don’t make the grade in 6 months or so, are they going to say, “Oh wait, It’s been such a hard transition for her, it’s ok”?. He’s been at 3rd 2 years now. To me, that’s a load of bull.
For me Jeter is the only Yankee that I can truly respect for his play, his dedication to the game and his respect of the fans. The ONLY Yankee I can truly show respect for.

And NO: about the Boone thing… There are so many other games that we can download rather than seeing that instead of no Sox at all. Obsessed fan that I am, I saved a couple of really good wins that we had this season to watch in the off season. I even have the last one.

jamie: Two current Padres (Roberts and Bellhorn) were on the 2004 World Champion Red Sox.

ellen: I can respect many of the Yankees. Bernie Williams is a very good example. Always a great player, a class act who stuck with the same team for the long haul. He came through big for them this year when they needed him. Except for the one incident with his helmet this year, I don’t think he’s ever had a major outburst on the field. He does his job, doesn’t whine, and doesn’t expect huge accolades or show off seeking attention. He’s a great role model for young baseball fans.

jasksonsens: Personally, I can give a little chuckle for the golf sign. Manny was the one holding the sign in the 2004 victory parade through Boston. I believe it said “Derek Jeter is playing golf today. This is better.” It might have been a different player named in the sign, but you get the idea. We all thought it was pretty funny then. I don’t give the Yankees fan any points for originality, but what’s good for the goose is good for the gander.

Jeter for MVP is a joke. You could take just about any guy in that lineup and make a case… Add it all up, and its ridiculous to say he is the most valuable in the league. Damon – 22 homers in the lead off spot. Good onbase percentage and a threat to steal. That equals lots of easy chances for Jeter to hit through holes and get fastballs. They had A-Rod and Giambi – both over 30 homers and 100 RBIs. I think Giambi is second or third in OPS. Posada had over 20 homers and a great on base percentage. Cano hit .340. Abreau hit well over .300. Even their bench guys had good years. Their pitching had a pretty good ERA and Rivera was his usual self. Jeter for MVP, its all public relations and trendiness. What a joke.

except that every single one of the guys you mentioned were injured at some point this season….or weren’t part of the team until august 1st. cano ans giambi for extended periods of time….this is the thing, everybody can bash the yankee defense and even their pitching and maybe even their bullpen, but then you have to admit they win based on their offense. So if their offense loses guys like cano matsui and sheffield for extended periods of time, and pretty much everyone else for at least a week, how can you not feel that jeter, batting better than he ever had, putting up near 100 rbi in the 2 spot, batting 340, stealing a career high 34 bases is valuable to this teams success, if not most valuable? It is a catch 22. Just saying.

I mean, hey, I’m a yankee fan but i’m not stupid, at the all star break ortiz was my mvp and papelbon ROY and a cy young candidate, i’m not afraid to admit that. But you’re looking at the lineup the yankees have now, and in that lineup, ur right, jeter even with a career season wouldn’t make a big enough difference even with 1 or 2 guys missing from it. But that wasn’t the case this year, they had guys like andy phillips, aaron guile, bubba crosby, ryan thompson, kevin reese, nick green, kelly stinnett, cabrera (not a bad hitter but certainly not shef or matsui), i mean ****, they had to pull terrence long out of the minors to try and fix their problems, that is something they did not throw money at. You have to remember, shef and matsui each missed over 100 games, cano missed 40-60 which with the overlap from abreu, that means 80-90 games were without all these guys in the lineup and jeter carried them. He barely ever slumped and did every little thing to win the game, and yes, he was clutch too, just like ortiz. This team had three unprovens at any time throughout the entire year until september, plus a struggling a rod and his shotty defense. so that is more or less half their lineup missing, even the yankees should struggle with half their lineup missing and jeter made sure they stayed in contention. I guess you had to watch every yankee game to understand.

Most of the heroics you talk about with Jeter were done while they were a second place team, even out of the playoffs for most of that time. They moved to the top when the Redsox imploded AND they got key guys back AND made some trades. If first place isn’t important, then Ortiz should win the MVP.

and they stayed in striking distance until they got healthy thanks to jeter….and the yankees went into fenway up 1.5 games already and that was before the sox imploded…the sox injuries mostly came 6.5 out….first place is important when the season ends, not in june. Damon 3 run homer

Did you think the sign about Manny the Yankee fan was holding was funny, Ian? I didn’t! And what’s the need to give it any further exposure? If you had decided to respond to the Red Sox provocation at all, it should have been to rip the sign out of the Yankee fan’s hands and burn it. You could have then set the Yankee fan’s **** ablaze.

I’ve read your comments on the Yankee blog about being from New England and writing for Boston but that you always admired everything from Little Jesus Jeter to George Steinbrenner’s mistress. God! you’re a sellout, Ian. How many pieces of silver did it take for you!?

This is ridiculous commentary by you. it was funny, just as it was funny when Manny held up the Jeter sign at the parade. I’m a professional journlist. I respect the **** out of the Yankees. That’s not being a sellout. That’s the truth. There’s nothing wrong with respecting the opponent. If you can’t take objectivity, please accept my sincere apologies. But if you’re going to call me a sellout, you should go join somebody else’s blog.

Yeah, the Yankees lose! I’m sure Yankees fans are rightly worried about the next two games. It doesn’t matter whether Johnson is healthy or not. He’s a shell of what he was even three years ago. Detroit takes Game 3. Not sure who’s starting for the Yankees in Game 4. If it’s Lidle, they’re in trouble. The Yankees will be home for the World Series. It’s just a matter of whether they will be dismissed in the ALDS or the ALCS against Oakland.

There you go Ian, get a little testy, very nice. Can you imagine if you were a 100% homer? (ie. hawk harrelson and the two losers announcers in ST. Louis) You’d have a tough time getting a job. Don’t worry, no one thinks you’re a sellout for doing your job. keep up the good work.

Hmm after today’s game I almost believe that the Tigers can defeat the Yanks. Then again, the Yankees only have one really good pitcher, namely Wang. I still can’t believe how much he’s improved… leading baseball with the most groundballs and second most in double plays… that’s attributed to luck in some ways, but that’s a helluvalot groundballs!!

Johnson and Lidle are probably pitching the next two games… all of a sudden, the Tigers look very winnable.

Im with the bulk of you, go Dodgers go, would be nice to see Nomar get the ring he deserves.

Tigers win a big one in ny, beautiful…tiger stadium will be rocking for games 3-4, im going out on a limb and saying tigers in 4. They just needed this game for a confidence boost.

Speaking of homers, ever listen to the whitesox guys, enough to make me puke.

To Yankeevmm, I like jeter, about the only one on that team i do like. Yes he was valauble to the yankees this season and every season. He is as rock steady as they come. But the yankees got great seasons all around, from cano to the catcher…what his name to traiter boy, cheater, even a-rod’s wasnt so bad. his defence ******, but his numbers werent too far off. Any team in the league would have taken 30+ and over 100 rbi’s from thier third baseman. Then to top that off, we have the overachieving wang (back to earth next year). So the yankees had lots of help besides jeters contribution. Abrue gave them what they lacked at the all-star break and the sox fell apart…literly. His numbers were mvp like, but papi’s were mamoth like. What if manny stayed healthy all season, and papi didnt have the heart problems that cost him some games. He could have reached 60 easily. I remember seeing 4 walk games and such without manny behind him. PAPI is MVP, Jeter is classy and 2nd best this year…maybe even 3rd!

jeff don’t u think ur jumping the gun just a little bit? this could have easily been a yankee win and the yankees are 3-1 in detroit this year. U think johnson will get shelled? How about kenny rogers, surely u know something about his career postseason. I think wright is pitching game 4 vs bonderman, yankees just need to win one in detroit and this series will be the first step for the yankees into the ws

I think game 3 will decide this series. If the Yankees win tomorrow, they will probably win in 5 maybe 4 but I don’t trust Wright. If the Tigers win, I think it is all over, b/c they will be gushing with confidence riding a huge wave of momentum, and that goes a long way with those young guys. I do think the Yankees win in 5 but Det made it closer than anyone expected.

NY won’t get by Oakland though, their pitching is just too good. When you have a 16 win pitcher(Blanton) who won’t even be starting b/c he is their number 5 you have to admit that is very good. Good pitching will always trump good hitting as today indicated. So I see the A’s winning the pennant and of course the world series in the jv/varsity intersquad scrimmage game.

I couldn’t believe Zumaya was throwing 103 today, is that even humanly possible? I was at Fenway when they touched him up pretty good, he was topping out at 100, which is still the fastest i’ve ever seen in person. The Tigers could become a dynasty for the next 10 years or so if they hang on to their talent. Verlander, Zumaya, Maroth, Bonderman, Miner, Robertson. Wow, what talent. They have to keep Leyland around though, because he is the glue that holds them together. Expect at least 1 or 2 championships from them by 2015.

54, and if thats the case then give it to wang…without his 15 wins (lol)the yankess would be nowhere..oh ya, they would have bought a couple of pitchers…never mind. To me the mvp would be a player that every team would take off anybodies roster if they could. If that was the case, im sure Ortiz would get picked more then Jeter.

wang has 19 wins, 20 if u count the playoffs……and that is what the cy young is for, though santana deserves it more. Unless you’re orel hershiser or winning 25-30 games you prob don’t deserve mvp as a pitcher. No, the offensive player of the year is ortiz’s billing, mvp is the most valuable player to that team, would you have taken ichiro in 2001 over a rods 52 hrs for a last place team? or thome’s 49 hrs? Palmeiro’s 47 hrs or glaus’s 41? How about in 1999, would u take pudge over griffey’s 49 hrs? palmeiro’s 47? manny’s 44 hrs and 165 rbi?

the mvp is not just numbers and picking those numbers for your team, there are obviously intangibles and other things that go into major league baseball than homeruns and rbi’s, clutch or not

Vince, you’re right. The Yankees could have won today. Of course, the Tigers could have easily won yesterday as well after battling back. They were one hit away from taking the lead, but that didn’t happen. I like Rogers since he is going against Johnson. It will be a high scoring game, but the Tigers are likely to jump on Johnson as much as the Yankees will on Rogers. The Tigers bullpen if far superior to the Yankees, with the exception of Rivera. This won’t be as easy of a series as Yankees fans thought. They will be fortunate to reach the ALCS, and the A’s, which have a far superior rotation and bullpen as well. Pitching wins championships. With the exception of Wang, Mussina and Rivera (and maybe Bruney), the Yankees don’t have anyone who is dependable. They have to slug their way to a win. They can more easily do that against Detroit than Oakland. The Yankees must have great pitching against the A’s to match the A’s pitching. Otherwise, the Yankees are toast.

ellen: yes he did get a ring, although im not too sure that’s been done before. He is great, he was great he will be great but that ring was a token gesture in nomars heart. Not that he didn’t deserve it, but im sure he would like to more or less earn one on his own.

Yes i know how many wins wang has, it was a joke as you shorted ortiz on his hr total. Didnt the rocket get mvp one year???? No matter what you say, I still say ortiz, and I also say Tigers in “4”. I also say it won’t be a high scoring game on ny’s part, Rogers will hold the fort. Johnson will hopefully fold like a k-mart lawn chair.

yes, clemens got mvp in 86 for an insane season, which is exactly what the credentials should be for a pitcher to get an mvp. Say what you want about the series, nobody is a mind reader, I had the yankees in 4. I can completely see something unexpected tonight like a pitcher’s duel, baseball is funny like that.

Great hit by Casey. What a pleasant Friday evening of baseball! Good to see Randy Johnson pitching like he has all year. If the Tigers win this one, they have to feel good about tomorrow – especially the Tigers hitters. As a big league hitter, you can’t see enough of Jaret Wright.

Yankeemm – “Half their lineup missing” you say? Do you actually believe your own arguments?! I mean that in all seriosness. One of the players who counts on your missing list for you is A-Rod, the guy who was there pretty much all season! Cano, another one of your missings, was injured but also had nearly 500 at bats this year. 500! So we’re down to Sheffield and Matsui. Big losses there, but at the same time they got Abreu for the second half. And yes some people were missing throughout the year. As you say, for about a week. This equates to about 2% of a season for each player’s s week missing. You throw out the names of the unproven people the Yankees had – can you honestly name any team that did not have a few players never heard of before?! However, this does not stop you from saying half their line up was missing.

I have been watching Zumaya all year and thought he was incredible. I don’t want to jinx him, but he could be a prime time closer in years to come.

I agree, Brendan. The Sox injuries were unprecented in the history of modern baseball. Losing Matsui and Sheffield was very minimal compared to what the Sox lost in their rotation, bullpen and position players. The Yankees had a great season – which will be coming to an end as soon as tomorrow night but definitely against the A’s – yet the Sox would have at least earned the wild card without all the injuries. We’ll see what happens in 2007.

Wow, this Yankees lineup is impressive. Makes you think of the ’27 Yankees, huh? Give me a break. As I stated before, good pitching overcomes great hitting everytime. The Yankees might come back on win this series, but they will get drubbed by the A’s.

Assume for a moment the Tigers win tonight. For me, this means tomorrow is the series decider. Two reasons. First: on paper the match up suits the Tigers much better. Bonderman could easily have started Game 1. The game 5 match up will probably be stacked in the Yankees favor. Second, and related to this: momentum is key. I feel it will take the wind out of the Tigers’ sails too much if they lose tomorrow.

Brendan, I think the Yankees can still come back if they’re down 2-1 against the Tigers, but even if they win this series, they will be overmatched by the A’s, who dominated the Yankees during the regular season and are the hottest team in baseball. The Yankees will still be 0-for the 21st Century.

You know tonight was the first time I ever went on to the yankees blog. And yankeemm (I don’t want to persectute you but you consistently put your head above the parapet). In one post he/you gives out about the umpires making bad calls (A-Rod’s tag was a bad call, no doubt). In another, he says “it cost them one base – big deal” about the bad call that went against the Tigers. You see, this is the reason it is pointless arguing with you yankeemm. The amiguity behind your arguments suffocates the potential for any rationality.

The umpires had nothing to do with the Yankees loss. They have been overmatched and humbled by the Tigers the last two games. They are showing heart and desire. The Yankees are playing like they think they are entitled. Go Tigers!

This isn’t a great postseason at all… there’s no real drama, no bitter rivalries; only the Tigers are worth cheering for from an objective point of view, and they aren’t even that great…

For once, I’m looking forward to the offseason quite a bit more than the postseason…

In unrelated news, I sincerely hope Deval Patrick wipes the floor with Keeley… Kerry Keeley is ******* me off, dissing Patrick with 7.2 million dollars of her own money… a Republican who’s never been in a coutroom judging the work of Patrick, whose role is so critical to the very foundation of American democracy; to attack his attempt to parole a client is to spit in the face of our Founding Fathers.

It’s not that I’m in love with Patrick or anything; I just don’t want to see my state crumble under the stupidity of Keeley and her goons, who don’t really give a **** about our welfare, just their own ambitions. Otherwise, why would she spend millions of dollars ragging Patrick on one issue that’s totally unrelated to US instead of using that time and money to concentrate on informative, meaningful messages? And when is anyone going to discuss the situation of UMass? Why can’t we get a college like the U of Michigan, which has (according to the Wall Street Journal) the BEST business school in the entire country???

I don’t care about who defends what rapists… I care about education and issues pertaining to the lives of individual citizens. Politics makes me sick. Honestly.

you could harrass or accuse me all you want but if you want to take every one of my quotes out of context, of course it comes out that way.

Cano had 500 plate appearances, that doesn’t mean he didn’t miss 6 weeks. The redsox sustained all of their major injuries when they already gave up 1st place, you can argue it until your blue in the face but that will probably not change in either of our minds. A struggling clement and a washed up keith foulke, and even a 40 something year old wells is not going to decide the playoffs and you had first place without them anyway, you guys fell apart on your own power and then were prevented from the playoffs by yes, a scary amount of injuries.

As far as the bad call comment, yeah in hindsight, and obviously credit to the tigers for executing, the calls favored the tigers more. Pudge is out at third, they call him safe, and it costs the yankees two additional runs in the inning, esp with Jason “I have no arm” Giambi ******* up the play. The tigers, instead of a rightful ground rule double, which it took two ****** to screw up instead of one, cost them one base. What is so wrong about that in hindsight? I made the comment after he walked since he “fouled” it on a 3-2 pitch. Instead of a double, it was a walk, that is one base, cut and dry, that was the comment. Pudge gets a freaken hit and lucky call during a rally, it doesn’t cost the yankees one base to lead off the inning, and you want to try and argue which call hurt more? Please, yes I believe my arguments. Yes, you can call me out all you want, it’s a blog.

And yes, I was comparing the two calls when I made the comment, you must have had to read more closely all of the conversation throughout the night to understand that. But if you feel the need to take my quotes out of context consistantly, than go ahead, but eventually I will justify what I said.

Yesterday was unbelievable wasn’t it jeff? The blog turned into a mental hospital, myself mostly included. But like I said over there, and I think I may be in the minority at this point, I don’t vent because I’m scared or lack faith, I vent to get it out of my system, whether it is baseball or life, I have no issues with anybody venting.

And lastly, Brendan, I’m not inviting you over with a gun to your head to argue with me, nobody is forcing you too, if you disagree with a point I have and feel the need to express yourself then go ahead, but nobody is forcing you.

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